Pavlik said on radio that his move was based on money, not personal issues

The Ring

August 3, 2011

Kelly Pavlik said during a radio interview on MaxBoxing.com that he didn’t pull out of Saturday’s fight against Darryl Cunningham because of personal problems, as many seem to believe.

Pavlik said his decision was based on the amount of money he was being offered by his promoter – Top Rank — to fight Cunningham, a guaranteed $50,000.

“You paid me $350,000 to fight Miguel Espino at Beeghly Center in Youngstown,” he said on the radio show. “… You paid me $1.5 (million) to fight (Marco Antonio) Rubio at the Chevrolet Center. You paid me $3 million just to jump up two weight classes to fight Bernard Hopkins at light heavyweight. Then you turn back around and tell me I’m making $50,000 to fight a southpaw [Cunningham] on five weeks’ notice? That’s not going to happen.

“So everybody thinks right now, ‘Oh, hey, you pulled out because of personal problems and this, that.’ No, I pulled out because I don’t need to fight no more. I will retire. I don’t need the money that bad."

One source close to Pavlik told RingTV.com that Pavlik also was unahppy with the $1.35 million offer he received from Top Rank to challenge IBF super middleweight titleholder Lucian Bute in his next fight.

Pavlik reportedly was incensed when he came to believe that Mikkel Kessler had been offered more than $3 million to fight Bute, an offer the Dane turned down.